Spring Fling 150: Denning holds off challenges to score victory in season-opening Late Model Stock event at South Boston

SOUTH BOSTON, VA. — Different car, different driver, same crew chief, same result.

Last season, H.C. Sellers of Danville, Va. was the crew chief for South Boston Speedway champion Peyton Sellers. When everything was said and done last year, Peyton and H.C. Sellers had teamed together to win the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series national championship.

Peyton Sellers has moved on to Richard Childress Racing. H.C. Sellers is still around, however, and right back in Victory Lane.

It wasn't easy, but Jon Denning of Springfield, N.J. led every lap of the Barkhouser Late Model Stock Car Division event Sunday afternoon at South Boston Speedway to put H.C. Sellers back in the Winner's Circle. Due to a pair of late-race caution periods, the race, which was scheduled for 150 laps, was extended to 162 circuits.

Denning is now living in Danville, Va. and working with H.C. Sellers in an attempt to claim a championship at America's Hometown Track.

Jonathan Cash of Oxford, N.C., who had scored back-to-back wins in the first two weeks of the season at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, N.C., started second in the 22-car field and drove on the rear deck lid of Denning's machine throughout the event. Despite managing to pull alongside Denning on a couple of occasions in the race Cash was unable to make the pass and settled for a second-place finish.

Eddie Johnson of Midlothian, Va. placed third in the event and was followed in the unofficial top five rundown by Adam Barker, who is driving a car for Stacy Compton, in fourth place and Owen Miller of Emporia, Va. in the fifth slot.

Speedy Faucette grabbed a sixth-place finish in the field and was followed by Keven Wood of Stuart, Va. in seventh place. David Quackenbush of Lorton, Va. placed eighth in the field and was the final driver on the lead lap.

The race was slowed by a total of seven cautions, the last of which came on lap 154 when Deiny got into the rear of Drew Herring of Benson, N.C. as the two were heading into what would have been the final lap of the event. Herring was running third at the time, while Deiny was in the fourth slot. Herring smacked the inside retaining wall hard and wound up in 16th place. Deiny was penalized for rough driving and put one lap down in the final rundown.

Bruce Anderson of South Boston, Va. started from the outside position on the front row grabbed the lead on the opening circuit and sped to a victory in the 50-lap race for the Strutmasters.com Limited Sportsman Division.

Tommy Peregoy of Red Oak, Va. began the event from the pole position after tallying a qualifying time of 16.313 seconds on the four-tenths mile asphalt oval. Peregoy managed a second-place run in the 13-car field and was Danny Willis, Jr. of Cluster Springs, Va. in the third spot. Willis surged to the top three after starting 11th in the field.

Brian Pembleton of Amelia, Va. placed fourth and was followed in the top five by Terri Williams of Capron, Va.

Rounding out the top 10 drivers in the field were Ken Roundtree of Gates, N.C. in sixth, Matt Lofton of Timberlake, N.C. in seventh, Bill Moshenek of Providence, N.C. in eighth, Philip Woods of Goode, Va. in ninth and Tiffany Daniels of Smithfield, Va. in 10th.

Scott Phillips of Roxboro, N.C. opened the season the way he ended the 2005 campaign — parked in Victory Lane in the Budweiser Pure Stock Division.

Phillips motored to a triumph in the 30-lap shootout for the division after holding off pole position winner Chuck Watkins of Stem, N.C. Watkins began the race from the seventh starting spot due to an invert.

Courtney Crosby of Scottsburg, Va., who moved to the pole spot with the inversion, held on for a third-place run, while Lee Anderson of Elon, N.C., who started second in the 11-car field placed fourth.

William Ridgeway of Burlington, N.C. rounded out the top five competitors in the event.

Darnell Wallace, Jr. grabbed the lead on the 10th laps of the 25-lap race for the touring INEX Legends Series and held on the rest of the way to take the checkered flag.

Wallace had led the race earlier for two circuits after swiping the advantage from pole sitter Craig Goess, Jr. on the opening circuit.

Kyle Hall, who started third in the 20-car field, motored to a second-place finish. Jeremy Cook placed third in the event after starting from the ninth slot, while Charles Hudson posted a fourth-place run.